Bath fixture



Dw. 22l 1925. 1,566,273

s. GADEl BATH FIXTURE Filed Sept. 2,*19-25- 2 Sheets-Sheet Al Figa?SAMUELGADE INVENTOR ATI'OR valves was usually Panarea nea 22,1925. l 7

UNITED STATES PATENT oral-CE.

SAIUEL CADE, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

BATH- FIXTURE.

Application ma septemberl '2, was. semi no. 54,069.

.control means for the hot and Coldwater supply to bathtubs and showers.

Heretofore in bath fixtures a set of two employed for admitting andregulating t e flow of hot and cold water to the tub and another set oftwo valves for similarly admittin and regulating the water supply to thes ower. These valves-were either assembled independently or constructedso thateach set of two valves was-located in one housing, or one housingwas sometimes provided with four independen t valves for the samepurpose. Or else, in place of the ,two jvalves for'regulating the waterto the shower, a single lmixing valve.

was emploLyed for regulating the temperature of the water.

In all of these constructions, certain failures often occurred 'andobjectionable features were present. lIn the case of four independentvalves the desired temperature of Athe Water for the shower could onlybe ascertained by the water issuing therefrom,

' under accompanying annoying splashing,

until properly adjusted. This a so hapened when the mixing'valve wasused, uness this valve was regulated before the water was admittedthrough its supply con-v trol valves ;'in the latter case, when, asoftenoccurring, the regulation was incorrect, the user was scalded bywater of too high a temperature. Furthermore, with a constructionemploying a mixing valve, the user' often 5 water had an opportunityforgot to shut off thel individual hot 4and cold water supply valves, inwhich `casethe to circulate from the hot water pipe into t e cold waterpipe, or vice versa, according to vwhich pressure was the highest, orthe sli ht corrosion4 incidental to this valve being under waterpressure, caused itjto stick and'resulted 'in the breaking of itshandlevor other serious damage when again intended to be operated,

When four independent valves were used, one for the tub, one for theshower, andthe other two for the hot and cold water supply shower, asdesired.

pi es, it often occurred that the supply va ves were' left open, theuser not noticing it because no water issued to the tub. or

from the shower. In such case too the hot water couldcirculate -into thecold water ,i

pipe, or vice versa. A .i

t 1s the principal ob'ect of this invention to overcome the diicultiesin voperation of the bath fixtures andtheir failures, as explainedhereinbefore, and with this purpose in view,AI provide in such fixturesprimary valves for the admission and control of cold and hot water and asingle secondary valve by means of which the water mixture, as regulatedby the rimary valves, can be diverted to either fille tub or the AnotherObjectis to provide for the water 'to the shower a tell-tale or testflow through the Aspout discharging water into the tub, wherebysplashing of the water'is prevented and where, by a sin le movement ofthe secondary valve, this fi4 adjusted as to temperature, will bediverted to the shower.

A A further object is to so constructl the sec- I ondary valve thatwater always issues from either the spout t the tub or from the showerso that the user must close lthe 'primary valves to shut off the water,whereby the backing of hot water'into cold water pipes, or viceversa, ispositively eliminated, and a much longer life to the valves insured.

vA still Jfurther object is to provide the secondary'valve with sim lemeans indica'- tive of the direction of tlie flow ofwater, whether tothe tub or the shower.

Still another object is toreduce the cost of manufacturin bath fixtures'of this kind to a minimum, pensive mixin va ves, or independentoperating valves or the water supply to both the tub and the. shower,and to cut down as Fig. 1 is'an elevationel, Ylew'rshowing a of "bathfx'tur'esfcomprisinga hot water and 'a cold water 'supply' controlvalve, .or so'-,

called 4prixvxunfy valves, a 'shower head, .a

waterl outlet spoutfor4 u bath tub, and a Water" diverting valve or'sof'called secondary valve; "A J ow'of water, properly the 'eliminationof ex- Fig. 2 isia partial -side view and section substantially alongthe plane of line 2--2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view along the plane of line 3-3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a lon itudinal sectional view through the secon ary valve in aposition of diverting water to the showerhead;

Fig. 5 is a similar view, but in'a osition of diverting water to thespout disc arging water into the tub; and

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view'along the plane of line 6 6 in Fi 4.

Like characters of re erence denote similar parts throughout the severalviews and the following specification. j

10 is a wall 1n a bath room to which is secured a hot water supplycontrol valve 11 and a cold water suppl control valve 12. These valves,already re erred to as primary valves, have a common housing 13concealed behind the wall 10, and union connections 14 and 15 to connectwith, respectively, a hot water supply pipe 16 and a cold water sup plypipe'17. In, preferably, the center of the housing, pointing upwardly,is an outlet connection 18 to which 1s connected a water mixture pipe19. Valves 11 and 12 and thereby housing 13 are secured to the wall bymeans of the usual escutcheons 20 and 21, marked, respectively, Hot andCold, and lock nuts 22 in the customary manner.

23 is a water diverting valve or secondary valve, having secured to itslower side the water mixture pipe 19. Attached also to the lower side ofthe water diverting valve 23 is a pipe 24 which by means of an elbow 25and nipple 26 is connected to a water s out 27 adapted to dischargewater into a ath tub 28 of which a fragmentary section is shown in Fig.2. Pipe 24 is hereinafter referred to as tub pipe. The upper end of thediverting valve 23 has connected thereto a pipe 29 which by means of anelbow 30 and nipple 31 is connected to a shower head 32, suitablysecured to the wallA 10. vPipe 29 will be called hereafter shower pipe.

interiorly for the water mixture I shall now explain more gin' detailthe constructiomof the diverting or secondary valve 23:

33 is a housing `aving a substantially cylindrical form 34 whic partlyprojects into the room through an o ening 35 in the wall 10. At the topof t e housing is a cylindrical branch 36, ,tapped out to receive theshower pi e 29. At the bottom is provided a simi ar branch 37,preferably in central alignment with branch 36, threaded (pipe 19. Tubpipe 24 is similarly connecte to the bottom of the housin at 38, aheadof branch 37. The interior of t e housing 33 is divided into threedistinct chambers, viz. a Icontrol or inlet chamber 39, a shower outletcham- -ber 40, and a tub outlet chamber 41. 42

the outlet of pipe 19, and openings 43 andl 46 are in central alignmentwith each other. The end of housing 33 which extends beyond the wall 10is threaded interiorly in alignment with openings 43 and 46 to receive abonnet 47 which is correspondingly threaded at 48. 49 is a recess aroundthe outside of the threaded art of the bonnet adjacent the end of theIousing 33 for the purpose of receiving an annular rubber gasket 50 whichis pressed against the forward wall of the recess 49 and the face ofhousing 33 by means of a lock nut 51 to make a tight joint between theoutside of the bonnet and the housing to prevent leakage therethrough.The forward art of the bonnet 47 which projects into t e housing 33 isof a somewhat smaller diameter than 48, at 52, and terminates in atubular end 53 which projects through opening 46 into the chamber 39,forming an annular valve seat 54 therein opposite to and of,,preferably, the same slze as. seat 44. The other side of wall 45 isbored out at 55` to receive an .annular rubber gasket' 56 which ispressed against the wall by an annular shoulder 57 at-the outside of thetubular end 53 of the bonn preventing leakage around its outside t oughthe opening 46 of the chamber 39, 58 are openings through the .walls ofthe tubular end 53 aiording means of communication between chambers 39and 40. Bonnet 47 is threaded interiorly at 59 to receive a valvespindle 60. A reduced diameter 61 of s indle 60" projects throughtubular end 53 o the bonnet 47 `into the chamber 39. A two-faced valvedisc 62 is mounted upon the end of s indle 60 by means of a lock nut 63.The

sc 62 is of such proportions as to seat at either of the valve seats 44or 54 within the chamber 39. The other end of the valve spindle 60 whichextends outwardly of the wall 10 is also of a reduced diameter at 64 andthereto y means of a screw 66. 67 is an annular gasket at the rearwardend of the thread in the bonnet 47 for the spindle 60 which iscompressed by a gland 68 screwed into the rearend of the bonnet to`prevent leakage around the thread of thevalve spindle. 69 is anescutcheon or shield tov cover the inwardly rejecting parts of the valvebonnet 47 ywit its loc nut, gland, etc., which is held against the wall10,by means of a lock nut 70 1n threadprovided with a handle 65 fastenedits center.

andere ed engagement at 71 with'the gland 68. As shownin Fig. 1,escutcheon- 69 is marked' at 72 Shower and diametrically opposite at 73Tub and the. handle 65 has marked thereon at 74 an arrow pointing awayfrom The operation of the device is as follows: The handle 6 5 of thevalve'spindle 60-of the diverting valve 23 ris set .as shown in Fig.. 1with the handle and its arrow pointing downwardly toward the tub, overthe designation Tub on the escutcheon 69. In this position which is alsoillustrated in Fig. 5 the valve opening 43 ail'ords communicationbetween control chamber 39 and tub outlet chamber 41,.while valve disc62 tightly rests against seat 54 thereby shutting off shower outletchamber 40. Hot and cold water valves 11 and 12'are then opened and thewater supplied from pipes 16 and 17 admitted into housing 13 common toboth valves, thence through water mixture pipe 19 into controlchamber39, whence it 4passes through valve opening 43 into the tuboutlet chamber 41, and through tub pipe 24 and water spout 27 into thetlib 28. By regulating valves 11 and 12 a hotter or colder mixture ofwater .is obtained in the customary manner. i

Should I now wish to em loy the shower, I simplygive the valve spindlean onehalf turn around, the pitch of its thread being selectedaccordingly, soas to bring its handle pointing upwardly toward theshower over the marking Shower on es cutcheon 69. In this position whichis shown in Fig. 4, the valve disc 62 shuts olf tub outlet chamber 41and exposes the open inner tubular end of bonnet 47 withinl the housing33 of the valve 23,- thereby diverting the water from the watermixturepipe 19 through' apertures 58 into the shower outlet chamber 40and thence through shower pipe 29 out through the shower head 32.

It will clearly be seen that through manipulation of 'the valves 11 and12, as explained, the proper mixture of the water can' be ascertanied atthe s out outlet to the tub, and as soon as satis actorily determined,can be diverted to the shower, without the user being injured by waterof 'either too hot or too cold a temperature. It will also be noted thatthus a splashing of the water about the tubI or the bath room, in-

cidental to testing the temperature of the using4 the shower, is entirelwater from the shower, preliminarily to eliminated. Furthermore, thepossibi ity of leaving l the hot and cold water supply controlvalvesopen when lfinished with using the,` fixtures is entirelyeliminated, because water will issue either from the shower head orvfrom the spout leading to the tub indicating that these valves are open.l'This is of particular ber, an. outletv chamber to a shower, and anadvantage overthe-usual mixing'valve arrangement or independent valvesfor the shower and the tub, where these independent yvalves or themixing valve may be shut olf and the suppl?l control valves left openwithout an vlslb e indication that they are open, whic often resultsinthe hot water backing intothe coldwater pipes, or vice versa, accordingto whatever pressure is the highest, unless special. check valves areprovided to prevent this.

It is particularly poi ted out that only 3 distinct valves are neededwith bath fixtures embodying the principles of my invention,namely, twoprimary valves ife.

1 hot water supplyv control valve and lcold water supply control. valve,and one secondaryl valve, i. e. a valve diverting the water from theIprimary valves to either the shower or the tub. This simplifiesconsiderably bath fixture constructions, be cause I eliminate 1 valvefor the control. of the shower and tub, where formerl 2 independentvalves were used, of,wh1ch one usually was of the expensive mixing type,and furthermore, vI entirely eliminate the possibility ofleaving thesupply control j valves open, as stated before.

While I have4 shown a preferred embodiment of the construction. of thesecondary or diverting valve, it is understood that I do not wish tolimity myself to the particu- -lar construction disclosed, but any valvestructure, of either-Il the reciprocating or rotary type, divertingwater from one inlet to either of two outlets may' be employcd. Also, Imay reverse the location of the outlet chambers or arrange them in anyother desired relation to each other. Furthermore, while I haveillustrated the valve used in connection with an overhead shower anyother form of water outlet may be used, such as the needle point outlet,mounted at right angles to the wall, for in# stance. It isV thereibreobvious that varino ous changes of form, proportion, minor details andcombination of parts may be resorted to without departing or sacrificingany of the advantages of the invention, asdefined in the appendedclaims.

What I claim as new, is:

' 1. In a diverting valve for the purpose specified, a housing having aninlet chamoutlet chamber toa tub, the said chambers .12

being connected. with each other by concentric passages, the wallseparating. the inlet chamber from the sa-id outlet chamber to a showerhavin an annular recess at its outlet chamber si e, and a resilientgasket within the said recess, a bonnet extending into the said outletchamber to a shower, having an annular shoulder within the said outletchamber to a; shower adapted to com- "o press the said gasket to cause afluid tight joint between the said bonnet and the said wall, a valvespindle adapted to be reci rocated within the said bonnet and exten inginto the said inlet chamber; and a valve disc secured to the end rof thespindle, adapted to close the passage between the said inlet chamber andthe said outlet chamber to a tub, and also adapted to be moved to seatagainst the inwardly extending end of the said bonnet to close thepassage between the inlet chamber and the said outlet chamber to ashower and simultaneously open the passage between the inlet chamber andthe said outlet. chamber to a tub.

2. ln a diverting valve for the purpose specified, a housing having aninlet chamber, an outlet chamber to a shower, and an outlet chamber to atub, the said chambers being connected with each other by concentricpassages, the wall separating the inlet chamber from the said outletchamber to a shower having an annular recess at its outlet chamber sidearound the passage through the said wall, and a resilient gasket withinthe said recess, a bonnet in central alignment with the said concentricpassages extending through the said outlet chamber to a shower, havingatubular end fitted within the said wall, carrying a valve seatprojecting into the said inlet chamber and an annular shoulder withinthe said outlet chamber to a shower adapted to compress the saidgasketto cause a fluid tight joint between the lsaid bonnet and the said wall,a valve spindle adapted to be reciprocated within the said. bonnet andex tending into the said inlet chamber, and a two-faced valve discsecured to the end of the spindle within the inlet chamber, adapted toseat with one face against the valve seat at Athe tubular end of thesaid bonnet and being also adapted to be moved to 'a position to closewith its other face the passage between the said inlet chamber and thesaid outlet chamber to a tub.

` 3. In a diverting valve for the purpose specified, a housing having aninlet chamber, an outlet chamber to a shower, and an outlet chamber toa'tub, the said chambers being connected with each other by con- Ycentric passages, the wall separating the inlet chamber from the saidoutlet chamber to i a shower having an, annular recess at its outletchamber side around the passage through the said wall, and a resilientgasket within the said recess, a bonnet in central alignment with thesaid concentric passages extending through the said outlet chamber to ashower, having a tubular end, removably tted within the said walladjacent the said recess, carrying a valve'seat projecting into thesaid'inletchamber and an annular shoulder within the said outlet chamberto a shower adapted to compress the said gasket to cause a luidtightjoint between the said bonnet and the said wall, a valve spindle adaptedto be reciprocated within the said bonnet and extending into the saidinlet chamber,4 and a two-faced valve disc Vsecured to the end of thespindle within the inlet chamber, adapted to seat with one face againstthe valve seat at the tubular end of 'the said bonnet and being alsoadapted to be moved -to a position to close with its other face thepassage between the said inlet chamber and the said outlet chamber to atub, the said valve disc and the said s indle being adapted to beremoved from the housing together with the said bonnet.

4. In a diverting` valve for the purpose specified, a housing having aninlet chamber, an outlet chamber to a shower, and an outlet chamber to atub, the said chambers being connected with each other yby cncentricpassages, the wall separating the inlet chamber from the said outletchamber to a shower having an annularrecess at its outlet chamber sidearound the passage through the said wall, and a resilient gasket withinthe said recess, a bonnet in central alignment with the said concentricpassages extending through the said outlet chamber to a shower; having atubular end, removably tted within the said wall adjacent the saidrecess, carrying a valve seat projecting into the said inlet chamber andan annular shoulder within the said outlet chamber to a shower, adaptedto compress the said gasket to cause a fluid tight joint between thesaid bonnet and the said wall, a valve spindle adapted to bereciprocated within the said bonnet and extending into the said inletchamber, and a two-faced valve disc secured to theend of the spindlewithin the inlet chamber, adapted to seat with one face against thevalve seat at the tubular end of the said bonnet and being also adaptedto be ber and the said outlet chamber to a tub, the said valve disc andthe said spindle being adapted to be removed from the housing togetherwiththe bonnet, the said bonnet projecting externally of the saidhousing and moved to a position to close with its other -face thepassage between the said inlet cham-

